wishing for a queerer Star Trek
Hey look, I'm posting again! And it's about Star Trek, again!
Don't worry, it's not going to be All Star Trek, All The Time around here now; it's only that I just saw the new Star Trek movie, so it's fresh in my mind.
And here's a thing I've been thinking: I want the new Sulu to be gay.
I don't mean "I want to see slash stories featuring the new Sulu" (though I'm certainly not saying that I don't!). I mean, this is my wish: I want the actual writers of the next movie to put some stuff in the script to indicate clearly that Sulu is gay. Maybe with some smooching!
I'm not saying that I'm guessing that this will happen, or that I've seen any subtexty hints that it might. I'm just saying, hey, I think it would be awesome. I think it should happen. Here's why!
When the original Star Trek aired in the 1960's, it was pretty radical to have a main cast/bridge crew that included a black woman, an Asian guy, and a Russian guy. When Kirk and Uhura kissed in "Plato's Stepchildren," it was the first onscreen inter-ratial kiss on American TV. Holy controversial, Batman! Star Trek was out there, taking risks, going where no American TV show had gone before. Star Trek was doing something very important that science fiction often shies away from: imagining social change along with technological development. Star Trek was being the change.
But these days? Star Trek plays it safe. I mean, I grew up watching TNG and Deep Space Nine, and they were a lot of fun and they had some great episodes, which were sometimes just wonderful stories and sometimes edged into allegory and political commentary, sure. They got into complex situations and dealt with shades of grey that went way beyond anything the original series handled. There's a lot of good stuff in there. But nothing that I would describe as brave. Nothing that pushes for the better world that we want to live in while scaring the bejeebus out of their advertisers and kicking off angry letter-writing campaigns in the heartland.
So, here's my idea: the rebooted Star Trek could recapture that spirit of fiery social relevance by letting one of the main characters be gay!
And why Sulu in particular? Well, I just think it would be a nice shout-out to George Takei, the original Sulu, who came out himself a few years back.
It would be great!
This entry was originally posted at http://shadowscast.dreamwidth.org/100449.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Don't worry, it's not going to be All Star Trek, All The Time around here now; it's only that I just saw the new Star Trek movie, so it's fresh in my mind.
And here's a thing I've been thinking: I want the new Sulu to be gay.
I don't mean "I want to see slash stories featuring the new Sulu" (though I'm certainly not saying that I don't!). I mean, this is my wish: I want the actual writers of the next movie to put some stuff in the script to indicate clearly that Sulu is gay. Maybe with some smooching!
I'm not saying that I'm guessing that this will happen, or that I've seen any subtexty hints that it might. I'm just saying, hey, I think it would be awesome. I think it should happen. Here's why!
When the original Star Trek aired in the 1960's, it was pretty radical to have a main cast/bridge crew that included a black woman, an Asian guy, and a Russian guy. When Kirk and Uhura kissed in "Plato's Stepchildren," it was the first onscreen inter-ratial kiss on American TV. Holy controversial, Batman! Star Trek was out there, taking risks, going where no American TV show had gone before. Star Trek was doing something very important that science fiction often shies away from: imagining social change along with technological development. Star Trek was being the change.
But these days? Star Trek plays it safe. I mean, I grew up watching TNG and Deep Space Nine, and they were a lot of fun and they had some great episodes, which were sometimes just wonderful stories and sometimes edged into allegory and political commentary, sure. They got into complex situations and dealt with shades of grey that went way beyond anything the original series handled. There's a lot of good stuff in there. But nothing that I would describe as brave. Nothing that pushes for the better world that we want to live in while scaring the bejeebus out of their advertisers and kicking off angry letter-writing campaigns in the heartland.
So, here's my idea: the rebooted Star Trek could recapture that spirit of fiery social relevance by letting one of the main characters be gay!
And why Sulu in particular? Well, I just think it would be a nice shout-out to George Takei, the original Sulu, who came out himself a few years back.
It would be great!
This entry was originally posted at http://shadowscast.dreamwidth.org/100449.html. Please comment there using OpenID.